Happy New Year to you and yours! May 2018 bring all that you wish for and more. I hope that your first few days have been peaceful and prosperous in the most wonderful ways. Are you in the habit of making new year resolutions, setting goals or simply selecting one or more power words to guide your year in the direction of your dreams?
For me, three words have come to mind, perhaps inspired by taking the time to meditate more consistently during our holiday. They are health, ease and connection. Starting with connection, it was a special pleasure to wrap up 2017 with my family in Cape Town. I value our connection so highly and am eternally grateful for their love, support and deeply grounding presence.
Here is a pic with my twin sister, her daughter (my goddaughter) and our mom. It was taken at dusk on Hout Bay beach, accompanied by the murmur of waves and barely a breath of wind.
Returning to Jo’burg, I decided to dedicate more time this year to business networking too, so this week I attended a meeting hosted by Business Connect at our beautiful local botanical gardens. One of the objectives of the organizers was for each person to take home a business card from each other person. They also encouraged creativity, so I stuck little pairs of wobbly eyes onto mine to make them a bit more eye-catching (as you can see in the top pic).
This is relevant to my business because so many people’s eyes go wide at the thought of facing a camera, especially on video, and because eyes really are the windows of the soul so the way we express ourselves through them makes all the difference to shining on camera. I also have a squint which you won’t see now because I wear contact lenses most of the time.
Growing up though, I hated how I looked and the camera, but that changed completely through photographing and filming hundreds of people over so many years since, and thanks to my beloved husband Dave who loves my squint. For me, it remains a key reason behind my passion for my work and provides a meaningful story for my business cards 😉
We had a fabulous meeting, full of fun and a wealth of potential synergies. To mention a few, I met a new hairdresser (mine is emigrating next month), a supplier of fresh fruit and veggies for our daily green smoothies, a provider of home cleaning services, who is helping me to have our carpets cleaned now that our puppy Smurf is house trained (fingers crossed!) and an SEO expert who I plan to consult to help me connect with prospective students for my online courses.
These will be launching soon, covering 7 steps to boost your brand via photos and videos of you, which I’m so passionate about because of my and my clients’ journeys. In the meantime, here’s wishing YOU an amazing journey in 2018!
P.S. Do you have a personal story that fuels your passion, and a specific intention for 2018? Writing things down is key to manifesting them so please share your thoughts below, XO
